Spring brings sunshine, warm breezes, blooming posies — and bugs. Insects are at their most prolific and most active when the weather heats up. Ants, bees, hornets, wasps, roaches and bed bugs are gearing up for summer and your home may be party central. If you’re not keen on sharing your domicile with a host of creepy-crawlies and their friends, you may need to call in a pest control professional to handle the evictions. How do you decide when to call and who to call? This week we’ll share tips on hiring a pest control company.

First you have to decide what’s eating you. The problem may be obvious. You may see a trail of ants across your kitchen floor. You may glimpse something scurrying under the fridge when you turn on the light. You may see fat bees buzzing around the eaves or spy a wasp nest under construction. But what if you suspect a problem, but can’t figure out the cause? Even worse, what if you wake up with itchy red welts? How do you figure out what’s biting you?

Try putting heavy-duty double-sided tape or glue traps on kitchen countertops, under sinks, and around windows, doors and headboards to see what sticks. Zip your catch into a plastic bag or dump that mystery bug into a small jar of rubbing alcohol. Take you catch to your local cooperative extension office or a pest control company for identification. They can tell you what you’ve got and how to get rid of it.